Patch 4.2 and it's 'Challenges'

[Zhuge]

So patch 4.2 introduced the new pet challenges. You take up camp waiting for the pet you have longed for...you even wait until the majority of the hype has died down before starting your quest. You hear tales of these poor rare beauties of only being up 5 minutes as people group together to bring them down or are tamed by the lucky.

You make friends along the way.
One, a very experienced hunter, explains how he's got a black list of people (including fellow hunters) who will not be able to apply to his guild or get into pugs. He's only done this since Cata, but with patch 4.2 the number of people on the list is huge. He helps your guildie tame Ankha at the end of your first 17 hour stint. You chat, it passes the time, boosts moral.

Secondly, someone who is not a hunter, and has never played one yet. You chat about pets, how to camp for the 'cool' ones and even what smilieys are!

You have to clear npc scan 15 times a day as a select few of the lucky hunters think they are helping by showing you they have tamed the creature you seek. After so many false alarms you are no longer excited when the hear the drums and horns. Then finally, it's the real deal! You follow the instructions given to you by fellow hunters, but you mess up - trap down first not pull! As you fly back to your corpse, the hunter whose your new buddy says 'relax no rush there's no one else here whose interested'. Res, eat up. Try to get back on that damn tree. A rogue appears, attempts to kill Banthy. Banthy easily owns him twice. You now get everything right except Banthy is pulled off you. The rogue has a mage now, helping him drag the birdy down. They attempt to hold him, another hunter flies in, mage pops haste CDs, and Banthy is now a loyal pet to a hunter is MM most of the time.

32 hours wasted over 2 days. As you land, they laugh at you, laugh at your 'stupid tactics' before hastely hs'ing on the spot.

The friendly hunter adds more names to his black-list, telling me to report them. The non hunter who now knows what smileys are gives you his first smiley when you explain what has happened. It symbolises everything these new challenges seem to be on my server:-

='(

Gutted, exhausted and still a lil emotional, I'm not sure if I still want Banthy. I'm not sure I still want to be a hunter in fact, it seems the 'black list' is too huge to overcome in these challenges. The pets aren't the challenge, its the hunter community...

~ZZ~

[Sarayana]

*hug*

I know what you mean, but I think more than being an issue for hunters, it's an issue in general that people have become less nice. I dunno what it is... perhaps the ability to always find a dungeon group even though you would never be able to find one on your realm due to your bad rep?

Just last night, I ran into someone who was incredibly rude and selfish... when I called him on it, he said "relax, it's a game. I'm just here for the gold" (in much more rude terms). Now I may be naive, but seeing as we're all playing a game, I figure we ought to all be nice to one another so that we can all have *fun*, but I guess people like this particular jerk (and everyone on your friend's blacklist) figures it's a game so he should have *his* fun, regardless whose fun he ruins?

Regardless of all of this, I feel I have more fun in the game now than I have had in the five years I've played. While the accessibility clearly is bringing the jerks out of the woodwork, I think it's just because it's bringing *everyone* out of the woodwork--and that's a good thing! It means Blizz has managed to make a game that is more fun for more people!


For what it's worth, I've seen Karma at work more than a few times. WoW Karma has a very rigid sense of justice, I find. And it works both ways. Keep being nice to folks and you'll make friends like the guy with the blacklist and the non-hunter with the smilies... and that'll matter more than the jerkwad who now has a pretty bird he doesn't use. It really will.